Hi, I’m Chris.
I’m going to play some music for you that you’ve probably never heard before.
I compose songs on the acoustic guitar, banjo or uke, or imagine them out of the air around me. Sometimes they are solo performance pieces, which is how I tour;
those expand with the funky folk ensemble Two Secrets.
My listeners will connect with the simple heart of the three-chord song. Yet we are the kind of fans who purposefully seek out an ever-expanding world of song arrangement that dangles genre fusion, vulnerable dynamics, inventive chords, and whimsical song sections.
The music world has slipped me wonderful unique experiences, just by showing up consistently, in and of itself. Through a house concert series I’ve shared a salmon dinner with and then opened for John Craigie, Martyn Joseph, Alison Russell, Mandy Fer, the Talbott Brothers. I’ve gotten to sit one-on-one backstage with Victor Wooten. Peter Yarrow came up to me at a gig in 2017 and kissed me on the cheek and said “son, I really appreciate what you are doing”. I shared a chinese dinner with Floater in a remote desert town, requested a song for their upcoming show, and got my request granted with a tip of the whiskey glass and a sly grin by guitarist Dave during the concert. Proud to say Karma Ann Swanepoel has become a close personal friend. One time Jim Avett came over to a couch I was sitting on, plopped down and chatted with me for several minutes after a showcase. And there’s more, and there always will be.
Award-winning songwriter Dan Weber was plied with rye whiskey to write:
“…Chris’ live show exudes the wonderment and enthusiasm of an artist drawing an authentic connection with his audience…feeding off that raw live energy…he rocks out and storytells the way Wilco and The Avett Brothers have so successfully done…”
The soundman at Tumbleweed Music Festival (WA) in 2019 was clearly overheard saying
“…I’ve been doing this for 17 years, and that was the best live set I’ve seen.”